Poet Laureate Legacy Tree Description This tree isn’t made of wood. It’s forged from steel and aluminum with branches that twist and reach like something alive. Look closely and you’ll see words woven through the limbs. The poem is by Carla Funk, Victoria’s first Poet Laureate. The verse reads: “You who lift a penny from the gutter & with the same hand point out stars, find me.” The poem invites you to notice beauty in both the ordinary and the extraordinary. A tree growing from concrete. A penny in the gutter. A glimpse of stars.
Artist Glenn Closson shaped the tree by hand. The trunk is made from hollow pipe. The smaller branches were cut, bent and welded from solid steel bars. Each of the 300 leaves was forged one by one. This artwork brings a sense of wonder to the sidewalk. It asks you to pause, look up and maybe see the world a little differently.
About the artist Glenn Closson began his welding training as a high school student before attending Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, graduating with a diploma in Welding Engineering Technology and a CSA certificate in Welding Inspection. He relocated to Victoria in 1984 where he started his own company, Crescent Moon Forge, in 1997.
Visit Glenn Closson's website
Details Medium
Mild steel, all hot dipped galvanized, patinated and painted/stained.
Dimensions
473 × 183 × 183 cm (15.5 × 6 × 6 ft)
Site
At the corner of Broughton Street and Government Street, connected to a lamp post
Artwork category
Civic Public Art
Date unveiled
February 3, 2009
